Gomme, A. B., The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland. 2 vols.
Green, P. B., [The History of Nursery Rhymes].
Halsey, Rosalie V., [Forgotten Books of the American Nursery].
Field, W. T., Fingerposts to Children's Reading, pp. 193 ff.
Moses, M. J., Children's Books and Reading, pp. 40 ff.
SECTION II. MOTHER GOOSE JINGLES AND NURSERY RHYMES
INTRODUCTORY
A flawless literature. The one literature that is supremely adapted to its purpose is the collection of rhymes associated with Mother Goose. To every child it comes with an irresistible appeal. It has a power so natural and fundamental that it defies explanation. The child takes it for granted just as he does his parents. It has a perfection of rhythm and structure not attainable by modern imitators. It has been perfected through the generations by the surest of all tests, that of constant popular use. Much of it is common to many different nations. It is an international literature of childhood. While much of it is known to children long before they enter school, these jingles, like all folk literature, never lose their charm through repetition. The schools have long since learned the value of the familiar in teaching. The process of learning to read is usually based on some of the better known rhymes. Teachers of literature in more advanced classes think they can generally detect the students who have been especially "learned" in "Mother Goose her ways" by their quick responsiveness to the facts of verbal rhythm and rhythmical structure in more sophisticated products. "If we have no love for poetry to-day, it may not impossibly be due to the fact that we have ceased to prize the old, old tales which have been the delight of the child and the child-man since the foundations of the world. If you want your child to love Homer, do not withhold Mother Goose."